


Unfinished Business

by xiaoquexing (MJLightwood)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ghost Luhan, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 05:13:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17656577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MJLightwood/pseuds/xiaoquexing
Summary: Luhan is a ghost who's trying very hard to haunt Minseok but failing miserably due to Minseok's ability to blame every abnormal crash and mishap on his very innocent cat, Tan.





	Unfinished Business

Luhan perks up from his favorite spot on the balcony when he hears the door of the apartment opening. It’s been a while since anyone has entered the apartment and it’s been way too long since Luhan’s had any fun.

When Luhan first glimpses upon the new homeowner, he can’t help but grin (not that anyone can see him doing it). The new homeowner looks young enough, possibly a college student. Luhan wonders why he doesn’t seem to have a roommate, since most college students would be too broke to afford an apartment all by themselves. A little furry cat appears between the man’s legs, with big innocent eyes very much like it’s owner.

Luhan can’t help but coo at the little thing. It seemed innocent enough, sweetly coming to rest beside its owner’s legs and meowing.

“This is our new home, Tan,” its owner says, stroking the cat’s head fondly before getting up and leaving to move more boxes into the house. The moment its owner leaves, the cat turns it head sharply and fixes its gaze on Luhan. Luhan is barely unnerved, his favorite thing about being a ghost is probably the fact that most animals can still see him.

“Hello there, little one,” Luhan says fondly, kneeling so that he can stroke the little cat. “We’re going to have a lot of fun together, just you wait and see.”

-

After a week, Luhan learns that the cat owner’s name is Minseok. Minseok seems to have a quiet personality. In the past week he’s only had two friends over to help him move in, and from what Luhan gathers, Minseok doesn’t seem to have a significant other, though he is most definitely in love with his cat.

But despite his quiet personality and overall cuteness, Luhan has absolutely no qualms about haunting him on the pure basis that Minseok feels the very odd need to vacuum his house at ungodly hours in the morning.

Luhan, being a ghost, does not need sleep. But it does not mean that he’s okay with the sound of the vacuum every goddamn morning.

For the first few days, Luhan found Minseok’s little quirk cute. Minseok was definitely a bit of a clean freak, but it was tolerable. Plus, it made him easier to haunt, or so Luhan thought.

The first time Luhan decided to cause a little havoc by opening the windows of the apartment, Minseok’s reaction had really caught him unguarded.

Minseok had stared at the open windows, his expression only slightly exasperated. But Minseok wasn’t scared, Luhan noted, he wasn’t even the slightest bit shocked. But Minseok was definitely irked.

“Tan, I don’t know how you’re doing this, but you need to stop opening these windows,” Minseok scolds, looking very pointedly at an innocent Tan before shutting the windows. Luhan is shocked, he felt a little wronged and maybe guilty that Tan had been blamed. Tan only meowed once and stalked away, barely giving Luhan a look.

Maybe he’d just have to try harder, Luhan thought.

-

After countless attempts of opening windows and doors and turning on the stove, all of which failed to incite a reaction out of Minseok other than scolding his poor cat, Luhan was near giving up.

How could someone be so mind-numbingly clueless?

Luhan saw a golden opportunity one day when Minseok left a mug of the coffee he seemed to drown himself in on the breakfast table. As he neared the mug, Tan was eyeing him with what he guessed was a disapproving expression.

Over the past few weeks, Tan had slowly taken a dislike to Luhan and his antics. Maybe the cat understood that Luhan’s little hauntings were putting its relationship with its precious owner in great peril.

As Luhan’s hand reached out to push the glass, the cat hissed at him. Luhan promptly ignored the cat and pushed the mug off the table. It fell to the floor with a loud crash, prompting a disheveled Minseok to rush out of his bedroom.

Minseok paused when he looked at the spilled coffee and broken mug on the floor. He shot a look at Tan, who was sitting very rightfully innocently miles away from the crime scene. Luhan smirked, surely Minseok couldn’t blame this on the cat. Surely Minseok would be a little freaked by this.

“Tan!”

Ah, too much wishful thinking.

“This is really getting too much, do you not like the apartment?” Minseok said, though his voice wasn’t scolding, only a little sad, maybe a little annoyed. “You were so well-behaved before…” Minseok mused.

Luhan wanted to tear his hair out in frustration. But he couldn’t. Because he was a ghost. Oh god, why was Minseok making it so hard for him to be a good ghost.

“I know you probably don’t like changes, Tan, but I’m really trying…” Minseok said sadly, which made Luhan’s heart ache a little. Oh great, now he was feeling bad for his supposed victim. This wasn’t good.

Tan, sensing his owner’s distress, lept off his seat on the couch and pawed to its owner loyally. Minseok stopped cleaning up the mess of coffee and broken ceramic on the floor to run his fingers over Tan’s fur.

“I know you miss him, Tan, I really miss him too…” Minseok said in a whisper. Luhan instantly felt guilty all over, it seemed like he’d stumbled upon something he shouldn’t have heard. Tan meowed and looked over in his direction. “What is it?” Minseok asked, turning his head.

His gaze sent a shock through Luhan’s spine, Minseok narrowed his eyes in Luhan’s direction and for a moment Luhan wondered if Minseok could see him.

But then Minseok looked away. “I have no idea what you’re looking at,” he tells his cat before returning to cleaning up the mess on the floor. Tan lets out a meow of what Luhan thinks is frustration.

The guilt continues to chew Luhan up as he looks at Minseok wiping the last of the dried coffee off the floor with a satisfied sigh. He shakes himself out of it. He’s a ghost, he’s supposed to scare people.

He turns away from the scene before he can feel any more sorry for Minseok.

-

Luhan is truly amazed by Minseok’s ability to blame every unnatural crash and occurrence on his very innocent cat. Thankfully, Minseok doesn’t seem to love his cat any less, so at least Luhan doesn’t need to feel bad about ruining the relationship between the cat and its very exasperated owner.

Minseok’s love for his cat is proven when he returns home one day (from work, Luhan learns. Minseok is a lot older than he looks) and calls for Tan like he always does.

Except, Tan does not appear. In fact, Tan hasn’t returned to the apartment since afternoon, which is very odd of the cat. Even Luhan had grown worried. Tan had been his only companion in the daytime, when his owner was out for work. He’d grown fond of the fluffy cat. Luhan wondered if he had a cat back when he was still alive, but he didn’t know. Ghosts didn’t have memories.

Minseok frowns when Tan does not come tottering to him. He leaves his bag on the couch (Luhan has a passing thought to hide it somewhere, he keeps the thought away, there are more pressing matters at hand) and proceeds to check all the rooms in the apartment. But there is no Tan to be found.

Minseok stands, a little bewildered, hands on his hips in the middle of his living room. He doesn’t voice his thoughts, but Luhan knows what he’s thinking. Tan has never acted like this before. In the past two months of pushing over Minseok’s coffee cups and rubbing Tan’s belly, Luhan had slowly began to understand the routine of the two. Tan had always returned to the apartment in the evenings, just in time to welcome his precious owner home.

“Did I scold him too much…?” Minseok mutters under his breath. He shakes his head in a way that makes neon signs with the word “adorable” on it blink in Luhan’s brain. Luhan quickly shuts the neon sign off.

“But he’s been acting really weird lately…” Minseok continues to himself. Luhan wants to scream at Minseok and confess that everything was his doing, not poor Tan, but he doesn’t. He’s a little scared to make himself known to Minseok, though he doesn’t know why. Everything in his gut tells him not to expose himself to the man, and Luhan doesn't quite understand why, but he listens to his gut anyway.

Though ultimately very worried and scared that his only companion hadn’t returned home, Minseok did shower and go to bed as per usual. He was a logical man, Luhan thought, he probably thought nothing horrible had happened. Some cats didn’t return for days at a time, Luhan reasoned.

Still, something felt horribly wrong.

So wrong that Luhan decided to enter Minseok’s room to see if the cat owner was sleeping. Sure enough, Minseok was wide awake, twisting a string from his blanket between his fingers. Minseok appeared to be deep in thought. Luhan sighed, at least his feeling of worry was mutual.

Eventually Minseok fell asleep, way past his usual bedtime. He woke up all groggy and unhappy, and it made Luhan feel so bad that he didn’t push over Minseok’s coffee cup in the morning. Lord knows the poor man needed the coffee he loved so much. Though Luhan knew he probably loved his cat a lot more.

Minseok functioned as usual, going to work in the morning, leaving Luhan alone to his own ghostly devices for the day. But Luhan was in no mood to cause any mischief, heart filled with worry for the cat he’d grown attached to.

When Minseok returned in the evening, Tan was still nowhere to be found. With pursed lips, Minseok left his apartment again, and out of curiosity, Luhan followed.

Minseok was on a mission to find his lost cat, ringing doorbells and asking politely if they’d seen Tan. But to no success. Luhan found his frown deepening as the night progressed. Surely Tan wouldn’t have gone far?

When Minseok returned to his apartment for the second time that evening, he was visibly distressed for once. Though Luhan felt no accomplishment over it. Luhan waited as Minseok took a longer shower than usual.

When Minseok finally came out of the shower, his eyes were puffy, and instantly Luhan’s heart twinged. Minseok seemed to have cried in the shower, and Luhan felt truly bad for him.

Luhan watched on helplessly as Minseok sniffed, crying silent tears while hugging his pillow. He wished Minseok would fall asleep soon, because the sight of a sad Minseok really seemed to pierce a sword through Luhan’s heart. When Minseok finally fell asleep due to exhaustion, Luhan vowed that he’d try his best to find Tan for Minseok.

-

By the third day of Tan not returning, Minseok had started to put up missing posters while Luhan had started to look for Tan with his ability to pass through walls. It was very un-ghost like behavior to be searching for the missing cat of the person he was supposed to haunt, but what did Luhan care.

By the fifth day, no amount of coffee seemed to be able to give life to Minseok anymore. Luhan watched as Minseok carried out his daily activities with bored and unhappy robotic movements. He felt infinitely sorry for Minseok, but he was helpless in the cat-finding department

When Luhan entered Minseok’s room that night, he found Minseok crying once again, this time in the corner of his bedroom, hugging a pillow to his chest. He looked so small and fragile, Luhan couldn’t help but reach out to put a hand comfortingly on Minseok’s shoulder.

Luhan had expected his hand to pass through Minseok’s shoulder, but to his surprise, it rested firmly on it, causing Minseok to look up and jerk away out of shock.

Their shocked eyes met, and Minseok gasped, shuffling even further away from Luhan.

“You can see me?” Luhan asked with lack of a better question.

Minseok had shut his eyes tightly. “I’m really hallucinating now, this is ridiculous, all over a cat, I’m really ridiculous,” Minseok said to himself, clutching the pillow even tighter.

When Minseok opened his eyes again, Luhan was crouching in front of him with a curious yet terrified expression.

Minseok reached out with trembling fingers to touch Luhan’s cheek. “It’s you…” he whispered, inhaling sharply when he made contact with Luhan’s skin. It was cold, but very solid, and very real. Minseok’s mind was close to short-circuiting.

“Um, do you know me?” Luhan asked carefully. The innocent question made Minseok’s expression fall, Luhan was surprised to find that Minseok could look even sadder.

Minseok smiled a sad smile. “Of course I know you, Lu.”

The recognition sent a jolt through Luhan’s body. He had no memories of his past, no memories of how he should achieve his peace, stop being a ghost, and finally rest. He had no memories of the very Minseok in front of him, whose eyes seemed to welling up with fresh new tears.

“Do you not remember me? Do you not remember anything?” Minseok asked sadly, fingers dropping from Luhan’s face. Luhan found himself missing the warmth of Minseok’s fingers.

Luhan studied Minseok’s face. Now that he was closer to him, Luhan found that Minseok was more than adorable, he was stunning. And though he looked young, little wrinkles were starting to form in some places. His big eyes were bright, not just because they shone with tears.

Yet Luhan found that he couldn’t remember anything about Minseok. “I really don’t,” Luhan answered. “I’m sorry,” he added as an afterthought.

“It’s alright, I thought I’d never see you again, this is enough,” Minseok said. It made Luhan wonder what they were, though he definitely had his guesses. “You seem to come to me when I need you the most, you always have that gift, Luhan,” Minseok continues with a chuckle.

“I’m really sorry about Tan, I tried finding him, but I really couldn’t. And I can pass through walls, so that’s really saying something.” The words tumble out of Luhan’s mouth, he isn’t quite sure how to deal with this whole situation, but at least his lips still remember how to function.

Minseok had gone to lie down on his bed, body turned to face a very overwhelmed Luhan with a certain peaceful look on his face that Luhan had never seen before. For a moment they stayed in silence, never breaking eye contact. Luhan could see the gears turning in Minseok’s head.

With a sigh, Minseok finally broke the silence. “It’s alright, it’s not your fault. Thank you for trying. I see some things don’t change.”

Luhan shoots him a puzzled look. “Who was I?” Luhan finds himself asking. “You talk as if you know me well,” he hurries to explain.

“I like to think I knew you more than well,” Minseok replies. Minseok finally breaks their eye contact to look up at the ceiling. “Do you really not remember a thing?”

Luhan shakes his head. “Nothing, just my name. I only know I’m here because I have some unfinished business that I need to get out of the way before I can finally achieve peace and rest.”

He moves to sit cross-legged next to Minseok on the bed, though his nonexistent weight doesn’t make the bed sink. “Tell me who I was, please.”

Minseok appears to be deep in thought for a moment, playing with the thread of his blanket again. Luhan guesses it’s a nervous habit.

“I don’t know what your unfinished business is, but you were my Luhan,” Minseok starts, confirming Luhan’s guesses. “I loved you very much,” Minseok says with such conviction that Luhan is afraid to speak against him. When their eyes meet this time, Minseok’s hold a certain melancholy.

“I still do love you very much,” he continues, voice barely above a whisper this time. Luhan guesses that some things are too precious and private to say out loud, even though only both of them were in the room.

“How did I die?” Luhan asks quietly, playing with his fingers. It’s a question that’s been dancing around his mind for a while now. He silently hopes it isn’t suicide, he doesn’t think he would ever want to leave the world if Minseok was in his life.

Minseok is quiet, his fingers have plucked the thread from his blanket. Luhan wonders if he should regret asking such a question.

“The usual, someone drank too much. A car crash.” Minseok sighs. “It wasn’t even your fault!” Minseok says, voice louder than usual, causing Luhan to jump in shock. “You were probably so excited, it was our anniversary…” Minseok trails off, the fresh tears finally falling from his eyes.

Nervously, Luhan reaches out to brush away Minseok’s tears. He find the action to be second-nature to him. Something the mind doesn’t recall, but the body definitely remembers. Minseok gives him a grateful smile.

“I’m sorry,” is all Luhan can bring himself to say.

To his surprise, Minseok gets up. “It’s not your fault, Lu.” Minseok starts to search through his drawers, seemingly looking for something. He pulls out a box from the depths of one of the drawers, looking at it reverently before presenting it to Luhan.

“I think you were going to give me this,” Minseok explains, opening the box to reveal a ring.

Luhan’s heart twinges in pain at the sight of the ring, its meaning clear as day. It’s a simple silver band, with little diamonds around the middle.

And a pain shoots through Luhan as he finally remembers. The memories seem to come all at once, with no pause. Luhan feels like he’s drowning. Memories of Tan, who had never liked him at first but eventually warmed up to him. Memories of his family, of how loved he really was.

And the most painful yet happy ones were all of Minseok. Minseok, sweaty after a game of football. Minseok, with a pleased smile, holding out a present to him. Minseok, whose lips felt so so sweet as they kissed and Luhan’s heart fluttered.

And finally Luhan remembers finally collecting the ring, so relieved that it came on the day of their anniversary. Luhan remembers driving back home, fingers tapping impatiently on his steering wheel, driving once the red light had turned green.

And then Luhan remembers the crash, the car spinning, his world spinning out of control. Luhan remembers the blackness. He remembers his last thought, how it was of Minseok, and how happy he would’ve been when Luhan proposed, and how silly he was for ever thinking Minseok would say no.

And how Luhan would probably never have the chance to ask him.

“I’m so sorry,” Luhan gasps, his breath still coming in short pants. Minseok is there immediately to wrap his arms around Luhan. For such thin arms, Luhan instantly felt safe in them. The tears in his eyes started falling.

“I would’ve said yes,” Minseok says, tone bittersweet. “But you know that already, don’t you?”

Somehow Luhan nods. “I’m sorry for breaking your coffee mugs,” he finds himself saying. Minseok starts laughing, though Luhan feels Minseok’s tears dripping onto his back.

“Minnie, please don’t cry,” Luhan pleads, though his own tears show no sign of stopping any time soon. “I promise I’ll find Tan for you, even if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

Minseok gently caresses Luhan’s cheek with his thumb. He reaches to brush away Luhan’s tears. “I missed you, Lu,” he says.

Though Luhan was unsure of everything only minutes before, now he’s certain of every move he makes as he gently cups Minseok’s face in his hands and pulls him down for a gentle kiss.

“I love you,” Luhan says, when they find it in themselves to pull away. “I’m sorry I have to leave you, but please remember that I love you, more than anything.”

“I love you too, Luhan.”

-

Luhan does eventually find Tan, who’s been forcefully adopted by a little girl and hidden in her room away from her parents. He brings Tan back to Minseok, who welcomes Tan with open arms and nearly cries tears of joy.

Luhan watches the scene unfold with varying degrees of sadness and happiness. He feels himself fading away, heart finally finding peace.

His eyes meet with Minseok’s for the last time. “You’re fading,” Minseok says. Tan who’s in Minseok’s arms meows in agreement.

Luhan smiles, he wants Minseok’s last memory of him to be a good one. He forces his tears away. “Please be happy, Minseok, please go out of the house more, find someone to love.”

“I promise I won’t forget you,” Minseok says. Tan leaps out of his arms, allowing Minseok to rush forward and pull Luhan into them.

“I love you, Kim Minseok, that’s why I want you to be as happy as you can possibly be. Promise me that, okay?” Luhan whispers into Minseok’s ear.

“Okay,” Minseok breathes. Luhan smiles even wider, pressing a gentle kiss to Minseok’s lips.

“Smile for me,” Luhan requests, and Minseok does, trying his best to seem happy.

And Luhan finally fades away, his soul at peace and finally allowed to rest. The last thing he sees is Minseok’s smile, always so angelic, and the last thing he hears is Minseok’s voice, trying to be strong for the sake of Luhan’s last memory.

“I love you, Luhan.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be happy, then my fingers slipped... Oops? (Halfway through this, I realized I wasn't sure if Tan was a girl or a boy and I couldn't find an answer so if anyone is sure please let me know, thank you!)


End file.
